Meme Stocks Have Grown Up — And They're Making Money For Investors

Core Viewpoint - Meme stocks are experiencing a resurgence, but they have evolved significantly since their previous popularity, now showing more profitability and stability [1][2]. Group 1: Performance of Meme Stocks - The VanEck Social Sentiment ETF (BUZZ) has returned 45% this year, outperforming the S&P 500's total return of 14.3% [2]. - Despite its strong performance, BUZZ has only $111 million in assets, indicating skepticism among investors [2][3]. - The ETF includes a mix of speculative and established companies, with notable holdings like Tesla (3.2%) and Apple (3.1%) [4][5]. Group 2: Composition of Meme Stocks - The top holding in the VanEck Social Sentiment ETF is AST Spacemobile (3.9%), which has seen a year-to-date increase of 158.3% [10]. - Other significant holdings include Intel (3.3%, up 55.7%), Palantir Technologies (3.0%, up 137.4%), and GameStop (3.0%, down 16.2%) [10]. - The SoFi Social 50 ETF, a competitor, has Tesla as its top holding at 11.8% and only $35 million in assets [7]. Group 3: Market Trends and Investor Sentiment - The demand for social sentiment ETFs is significantly weaker compared to more established funds like Invesco S&P 500 Momentum, which has attracted over $7 billion this year [9]. - Socially inspired ETFs provide insights into popular stocks among investors but are not intended to be core portfolio components [9][10].